Doc 1 done!

I think my first design document is done. I've done all the character pictures, I've put in some bosses, I've added some illustrations for the mechanics and I've finished the story and all the possible endings. Whew.

Next is the nightmare that is Doc 2. I think this one needs the most work.

Ugh.

Anyway, I'm glad I made some progress. I remember at the start of the year, Josh said, much to my disappointment,  that we couldn't do pointless stuff-happening-for-no-reason sort of horror in games. At first I saw this as a hurdle, but now I'm actually fairly glad we couldn't do it. It made me really think about the plot; why are things happening, and how can it be made interesting but still 'believable'?

I got to learn some pretty neat stuff while I was trying to come up with a solid story. One of the endings is that Don basically suffers from Kleine-Levin syndrome. It's a very bizarre but interesting condition, and it's probably the most logical reason for how someone could be hallucinating and stuck in their dreams.

With all the endings, I tried to tie them in with the story somehow. That way, regardless of the ending, the player could still see it making sense in relation to what they've been through already. Ideally, I would have had a lot of moments that show the player which ending they're heading for (such as secret levels, path-specific cutscenes, etc) as well as more choices to change their path. However, this would probably have killed me, because I'd have to come up with a whole tree of events, levels and choices. It'd be cluttered and much too confusing. As it is, the player makes 2 specific choices, and these determine the ending they get.

Whew.